Healing Process
by asylums-angel
Summary: The Beast Wars are over and everyone is heading home, though things don't go as planned. They are forced to stop on a near planet to refuel and a sequence of events lead to questions and answers about the past and future. more inside
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: Alright, just to clear up some confusion, this is an alternate universe, if you haven't figured that out. What this means is, no Beast Machines, everyone's back together again, and it will be a totally different story from here on out. Also, the Beast Wars don't take place a bazillion years after the Great War and such. Read on to find out more.

SIDE TRIP

It was about thirty-seven stellar cycles since the Beast Wars had ended and things were starting to return to a slight sense of normality. The Maximals, beginning to return to their former name as Autobots, had recently come across a small fragment of the Allspark that reacted strangely to the group. Shining furiously, the massive power of even that small piece went through the events of the war and, on its own, brought back those that had been lost. Though, using this as a distraction, Megatron was able to escape Autobot custody to an unknown destination.

So the Maximals were forced to continue back to Cybertron without their main POW, leaving the rest of the reborn Predacons to wait for judgment in the holding bay of the Autobot ship. The prisoners, all except three, mostly bickered and argued amongst themselves while Terasaur and Waspinator stayed unusually quiet.

The strangest of all, though, was Rampage who stayed mostly silent and stared off even when spoken to. This troubles Depth Charge greatly, for he was the one who knew the murderous crab the best. He had also known him longer than anyone else on the ship. Years ago, Depth Charge had been Chief of Security on the colony installation of Rugby; a place where he had lived for most of his life as well as a place where Rampage had killed all of its inhabitants.

All except Depth Charge, of course.

Ever since the day Rampage had let him live, Depth Charge had been chasing after him, seeking what he called justice and Rampage called revenge. The Autobot had come to Earth and had inevitably joined the Beast Wars after picking up on the Protoform X signal and following it there.

Now the ray bot sat in the ship's bridge, watching the security monitors with narrowed optics. "Why does he just _sit _there?" he asked to himself and anyone else who cared to answer.

"Eh, maybe he finally learned to shut up and sit still, huh?" came a reply from Rattrap who spun around in his seat in front of another monitor. Though he had denied it, the Maximal technician had been overjoyed when Dinobot had been brought back to life.

"Not likely..." Depth Charge grumbled, watching the screen even closer. "From what I know of the Protoform X Project, all those who had come out of it were war machines programmed to kill and Rampage is no better. I highly doubt he would settle down so suddenly." As if hearing the conversation, Rampage looked up from where he was and directly at the surveillance camera, his emerald optics seemingly matching Depth Charge's red ones.

Scowling slightly, the Security Chief stood up. If he couldn't find the answers on his own, he'd just have to ask Rampage himself. Leaving the bridge in the direction of the holding bay, Depth Charge's thoughts raced.

Tigetron, who was very grateful to be back with the living, sat at the entrance to the holding bay, watching as the ray bot came down the hallway. "Can I help you?" he asked with an inquisitive stare.

"I need to speak with a prisoner."

"Ah, of course. Rampage, I presume?" He stood up, watching the larger bot closely.

Depth Charge's optics narrowed ever so slightly as he grew more impatient. "Yes. Now let me through."

The feline Autobot shrugged, turned, and began punching numbers into a key pad by the door. "The answers you seek may not be the ones you expect to hear though, my friend." The door to the holding bay hissed open as he continued. "You're asking about Protoform X..." he turned to face the other's stare. "...but he's _Rampage _now."

"Right," Depth Charge scowled, walking forward and practically pushing Tigetron out of the way. "Don't act like you know everything, _cat_."

As he stepped through the doorway, the bickering in the holding back quieted. The first to speak up was Tarantulas, who narrowed the multiple eyes of his beat form at the Depth Charge. "So the great and powerful Chief of Security has come to grace us with his presence yet _again. _What, come to torment us some more?"

"Tch." Depth Charge ignored the spider bot and walked down the row of cells towards the back where Rampage's was. He paused only briefly to glance into the cell that held Inferno, who glared at him from the back. Depth Charge had met him once before a few years ago on a space colony called Tenok. This was before the Beast Wars and before Inferno had been forcefully converted into a Predacon. Now, because of the crash of his Stasis Pod and Tarantulas' faulty programming, he was a complete opposite of the noble, independent Autobot he used to be. He knew that Optimus, as well as many back on Cybertron, hoped desperately that they would be able to restore Inferno to his former state, or at least restore his memories. This included another Security Chief back on Cybertron named Red Alert who had apparently fallen in love with him.

He continued walking, shaking his head to himself. Love was such an odd thing. In his opinion, love was just a nonessential waste of time that got in the way; a glitch in one's processors. And it always found a way to turn its back on you.

Rampage sat at the back of his cell in his robot mode, giving a yawn that soon turned into a mischievous smile as Depth Charge stepped up. "Why, hello there, Captain Minnow. To what do I owe this unexpected visit?"

"What are you plotting, X? It's unlike you to just sit by quietly without having something up your sleeve."

Giving a short chuckle, the crab stretched his arms behind his head. "You know me all too well, friend. But I assure you, I have nothing _up my sleeve_ at this moment in time."

The ray narrowed his optics , watching Rampage closely. "I don't believe that for an _instant._ You–" He was about to say more when Optimus' voice came in over the intercom, instructing everyone to come to the bridge. Depth Charge frowned, shaking his head, then looked back at Rampage. "I'll find out what you're thinking sooner or later."

"Mmhm." He watched the ray bot walk away and laughed quietly to himself. "Same as always, old friend... Same as always..."

The bridge was already filled with the other shipmates as Depth Charge stepped through the doorway and Optimus, towering above them all in his Optimal form, nodded to him. "Everyone here?" he called. "Good. Now I have a bit of bad news... I know you've all been anxious to get back to Cybertron, but our arrival is going to have to be a little delayed..."

There was a rush of comments and questions, but Rinox then cleared his throat, silencing them all. "It seems the computer miscalculated the amount of fuel and energon that we have, and we're going to have to make a stop on a near by planet called Reclarion to re-supply."

"What kind of planet, Rinox?" asked Cheetor, looking a bit nervous. "I mean, do you know what's there? What if it's hostile?"

"We've done our research and they seem fairly welcoming to outsiders...except not so much to cybernetic organisms..."

"Oh, well that's just _great_, ain't it?" Rattrap frowned, crossing his arms over his chest. "So, they're friendly to all life forms...except for _us_, is that what you're sayin'?"

"Well, technically, yes. They don't like the idea of machines thinking for themselves... But all that means is we can't let them _know _what we are. Which _means_," he started, cutting off questions from the others, "we'll have to take new forms. Forms of their more common residents." He flipped a switch and multiple imaged appeared on the monitor in front of him.

Dinobot huffed, studying the imaged, his arms crossed in front of him. "They all appear rather _human_ to me."

Nodding, Optimus said, "They're very similar to humans, so it shouldn't be too hard to fit into society there. Once the Axalon enters Reclarion's atmosphere, your scanners should pick up the DNA signals from its inhabitants and you'll be able to transform. They'll probably want to know who we are, so when asked, say we're a group of travelers with no real home planet."

"Hold on a second, Optimus," said Blackarachnia, frowning. "These aren't like our normal beast forms. These have parts that will need to be _covered._ What are we going to do about clothes?"

"Ah," he laughed. "You don't have to worry about that. Once you transform, you'll automatically be wearing clothes based slightly on your beast form, age, and personality."

"And what of the prisoners, Optimus?" Depth Charge asked, thinking.

Optimus nodded, saying, "They'll take on the new forms as well and stay on board. We'll all take turns guarding them."

Depth Charge nodded, thinking to himself, _'A planet that dislikes cybernetics that can think for themselves... This will be interesting...' _


	2. Chapter 2

RECLARION

The change had come quick and wasn't relatively strange at all; it was just like transforming into a regular beast mode. As Optimus had said, they were instantly clothed as they finalized their new shape. There was a rising buzz of excitement as the Maximals began returning to the bridge to show off their new forms.

Dinobot looked upon his form with a slight disliking, for it revealed many of his deep scars. He stood tall and looked around the age of twenty-three with brown hair that was short in the back but longer and put to the right in the front. His clothes were simple, but sufficient, being a plain white tank top, dark brown cargo pants, and black combat boots. He had two, brown, angled slash marks on his left cheek.

"Well!" Rattrap said with a laugh. "You look a little less _ugly, _Chopper-face!" He, like his robot mode, had a small frame and his human form looked around nineteen. Now he wore tight black jeans, a gray t-shirt, and had short cut silver hair.

"Hmm... Well, I didn't think it was _possible, _but it seems you've gotten _shorter, _vermin."

"Hey!" He crossed his arms over his chest, then noticed something. "Huh... Y'know, I _knew_ you had scars, but man... What're those on your back?"

Dinobot's eyes widened, realizing for the first time that those particular scars were showing. Then he glared, looking away. "Just more scars. They mean nothing."

This conversation, along with those made by the others coming back to the bridge, continued until an angry cry came from beyond one of the bridge doors. They hissed open, revealing a very angry Depth Charge.

"Wh-hoa..." breathed Cheetor, trying not to smile. He looked around the age of fifteen with blond hair tied back in a loose pony tail and wore blue jeans, a red shirt with a blue stripe across the chest, an open, red and yellow plaid work shirt, and red and white shoes. "Is that...Depth Charge?"

Rattrap gave a short laugh. "And you think _I'm_ short. At least I'm not the short_est _anymore."

"Shut the slag up!" Depth Charge shouted, entering the bridge, red eyes glaring. Much unlike his large robot form, his new shape was very small and in the form of a child around the age of ten. He had dark blue hair that was tied back behind his strangely pointed ears and wore a type of blue and gray uniform.

"What's going on here?" asked Rinox as he came into the bridge. His build was large as usual and now he bore a dark brown scruffy beard and buzz cut. He wore a fitted olive shirt and blue jeans, looking to be somewhere in between his forties and fifties.

Optimus came in behind him, blinking when he saw Depth Charge. He was tall and fit, had short blue hair with yellow eyes, and wore a red jacket with blue pants. "Depth Charge?"

Depth Charge frowned, nodding. "What's going on, Optimus?"

Rinox walked over with a curious look in his eyes, saying, "How strange... Did this happen to anyone else?" When no one spoke up, he continued. "The pointed ears say that you took on the DNA of the planet's Elvin occupant, called Aryans, but that doesn't explain the whole age thing."  
"I don't know if this has anything to do with it, Rinox," said Cheetor as he sat down in front of one of the security monitors, "but I think the same thing happened to _Rampage._" Depth Charge and the others moved over to the monitor to get a better look and saw that it showed Rampage looking about the same age and species, sitting in a corner of his cell. His arms were wrapped tightly around his knees as he stared at the wall across from him.

"This...may actually make sense now..." said Optimus, breaking the silence.

"Oh?" asked Depth Charge, glancing at him. "And how's that?"

The Autobot leader thought for a moment, then said, "The way the two of you _died._ You both died from the explosion caused by _raw energon _coming in contact with Rampage's spark. You of all people know how different his spark is, Depth Charge..."

"Tch..." He went back to watching the monitor. "Different... Yeah..."

20 minutes ago: Holding Bay.

A message came in over the intercom, telling all passengers of the Axalon that they were nearing orbit and soon their own systems were announcing the DNA search. It didn't take too ling to change and soon their voices erupted once more.

"_Orbit?_" Tarantulas asked to no one in particular. "Orbit of _what?_ There's no _way _we've made it all the way to Cybertron yet, and even if we had, we wouldn't need forms like _this._" He now appeared as a tall, thin, but slightly muscular man with short, spiked purple hair. His outfit contained a dark violet dress shirt with a lime green tie, gray pants, nice black shoes, a clean white lab coat over it all, and gold-tinted eye visors.

Conversation continued, but it all went unheard to Rampage who stared wide eyed down at his newly acquired form. He was fairly skinny in his new shape and had red hair that seemed to stick out in every which way but hung long on either side of his head directly in front of his pointed ears. A large scar could be seen across his chest since he wore no shirt to cover it; only a deep purple vest that hung open. His abdomen was bandaged, his pants were dark blue and cut off just below the knees, and he wore no shoes.

He let his gaze rise to the wall ahead of him and he sat down, hugging his knees to his chest. _Why..._ he thought to himself. _Where have we gone that would require a shape like this? Why must I be in such a form!? _

The door to the holding back hissed open and Rampage flinched, pulled from his thoughts, but he did not look to see who it was. This time the chatter didn't stop but turned into laughter at the newcomer's expense. Rampage didn't need to listen or look to see to know who it was.

Depth Charge walked down the row of cells, ignoring the criticism of the prisoners and went strait for Rampage. This time, though, green eyes were turned away. There were no snide remarks or criticism; only a quiet "What do you want..."

"What do I _want_?" The now blue-haired boy frowned. "What the slag is wrong with you?"

"What's _wrong_ with me!?" Green eyes glared at him from the back of the cell, piercing emeralds in the dark. "_Look _at me, Depth Charge! I've become this-this-!" Rampage closed his eyes and let out a rattled sigh, then stared back at the wall in front of him. "What have you done..?"

Depth Charge stared at the red head, bewildered. He didn't know what was stranger, the fact that Rampage had called him by his name instead of a nickname, or the look of fear in the killer's eyes. It might have been amusing to him if it didn't seem so...genuine... "We're stopping on a planet called Reclarion, and to do that, we needed forms like this. Nothing more."

Rampage's eyes widened even more and then closed as he leaned on the wall. "Reclarion... I see..."

Depth Charge returned to the bridge in almost a brooding mood, thinking about Rampage's odd reactions. He barely looked up when the computer announced that they would be docking soon. Biting his lip, he considered the other bot's actions. The name Reclarion had sounded familiar to him, and now his suspicions had grown.

"Something bothering you, Depth Charge?" Rinox asked from his place in front of the main monitor. "You seem more distant than usual."

"Yes..." he frowned, thinking. "What all do you know about this planet, Rinox? Is there something or someone _here _that you haven't told us about?"

Rinox stared at the younger bot for a moment, thinking. "Not that I'm aware of. Since Reclarion is anti-sentient cybernetics, we haven't been able to obtain much information about it... Why? Did something happen?"

The blue haired boy sighed, looking away. "Nothing."

It didn't take the ship long to become secure, and once it was, everyone (except Silver Bolt, since it was his turn to stand guard) headed for the docking bay. Once they were through the three air locks, they stepped out into a long hallway and stopped. There was a man wearing a black suite with long, tied back blue-black hair standing in the hall waiting for them. He lifted his familiar eye visors to get a good look at them, smiling.

"Good evening. My name is Dr. Saryl. I believe you have a patient of mine."

Note: You'll notice I'll go in between refering them as their bot form and there "human" form, calling them something like either bot or boy... Mmhm...

**REVEIW PLEASE**


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